Sunday, October 31, 2010

I was recently asked by Brandon Oelling from Xequals to have a look at their new Lightroom 3 mini-guide and talk a bit about my thoughts. Sine I've been a long time user of X-Equals Lr presets and a reader of their website, x-equals.com, I was happy to ablige.

What the guys over at X-Equals have done is taken a deeper look at Lightroom 3 and give us some insight into their workflow in this new version. Then, they've compressed it into this 52 page mini-guide with easy to follow screen captures and step by step instructions. Now, I've been an Adobe Lightroom users since pre-version 1.0, back when it was in beta. It's easy to say I use this program on a daily basis. So as I began reading through Brandons latest guide, I wasn't sure how much I'd learn from it. But surprisingly I found I'd fallen into a bit of a rut in my editing workflow, always doing things the same way from Lr version to Lr version. So this guide has turned out to be quite an eye opener to the many new options and ways of doing things.

As I said, the guide isn't too long at 52 pages in pdf form. Which is perfect for me since I normally have the attention span of a knatt...on crack... sipping Red Bull. But it not only kept me reading but taught me a few things. This really isn't a guide just for experienced Lightroom users. If you have the program or are thinking of trying it out, I can definitely recommend this program as a tool to give you a bit of hand-holding as you learn what is what. You'll go from beginner to novice Lr3 user very quickly with the help of this mini-guide. And being that it's in PDF format, you can quickly search it for what you're looking for. Now, this of course isn't a full length, in depth Scott Kelby Lightroom book. But it's not meant to be. This is the quick and dirty, get you importing, editing and exporting in the most efficient and least amount of time. And it accomplishes that goal very nicely.

The mini-guide sells for $7 over on their site. Considering most books on Lightroom run $30 to $50, this guide is well worth it for the amount of information inside it. Big thanks to Brandon for allowing me to review this guide! It's been an enjoyable and educational experience.

You can find and purchase the X-Equals Lightroom 3 Mini-Guide right HERE.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

While taking a recent walk around the Denton town square, I was looking around the old Opera house/Recycled Books & CD's building, trying to find an interesting photo. It has just finished raining and the skies were a flat grey. Nothing I shot seemed to really be of any interest to me.

I walked around the square one more time looking for new subjects. But as I came back around to the Opera House building, the clouds began to break and cracks in the clouds began to let a little sun glare through. I immediately knew this might give me some nice ominous clouds as a back drop to this intriguing old building. I attached my Sigma 10-20mm and got as close and as low to the building as I could. Shooting almost directly up and almost on the ground, I snapped off several photos. I then looked at my camera's LCD screen to better see what i'd captured. When I came to this photo, I knew I had one I liked.

Now, of course it wasn't this foreboding in person. But after a little work in Adobe Lightroom 3, doing b&w conversion and quite a bit of burn & dodge, I was able to create what my minds eye saw.

After it was complete I did my normal routine of uploading to Flickr and adding it to a number of groups for viewing. A couple days later I was pleasantly surprised when I was contacted by the group admin Stephan Becker of KERA.org. One of the groups I had submitted the photo to, Art & Seek, is a sub group to the KERA Art & Seek website. They highlight art, music and culture in the Dallas and North Texas area. He notified me that my photo had been selected as Photo of the Week and would be displayed on their site. Oh, exciting! So go have a look. The photo should run on the site until Tuesda, Oct. 2nd. http://artandseek.net/2010/10/27/flickr-photo-of-the-week-101/

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

This little ferocious pup is Zita. Most of you who follow my Flickr stream already know this. She appears quite frequently. She is after all my best friend. She follows me around the house, hangs on my every word, misses me when I'm away and goes berserk when I come home. She wags her tail when she licks my face or when I say "Zita, daddy loves you very much". She ignores most others commands to obey, yet *mostly* hears mine. She loves cheese and spaghetti sauce.... together or separate.

In this photo we are doing probably her most favorite thing... tug-O-war. She's had this two foot long rope for a couple years now. But it's still the first thing she runs for when she's let out into the back yard. The phrase "Get your rope!" means game-on for her. And every time we play this game, I end up laughing my butt off as she pulls with all her might... growling and snarling, trying to sound as big and tough as possible. Yet I know behind all that noise and teeth is just my little teddy bear.

Most people when they meet me don't understand the bond I have with Zita. Through happy times and tough times, she has been there. Always. No questions asked. No looks of judgement. No wavering feelings or doubt. No change of heart. I am her world as much as she is mine. Ive grown up with dogs, cats, horses, goats and other pets my entire life, but never have I had such a close bond with an animal.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

It's that time of year again. Cool weather rolls in, leaves fall from the trees and the State Fair of Texas goes into full swing. I finally got down there to it on its last weekend. My friends and I had a perfect day for it weather-wise and the crowds weren't horrible. We had fun taking photos, eating the classic fair junk foods and seeing all the sights.

For those who have never been, the State Fair of Texas is a HUGE deal as far as fairs go. Its a month long event held in Fair Park near downtown Dallas. You can see everything from livestock, new expensive cars and ride all kinds of crazy rides. And then of course there's the food. The fair vendors pride themselves on coming up with new things they can deep fry. Most if it I cannot stomach. Deep fried bacon is just too much. If they can think of it, they'll deep fry it. Its interesting for sure.

Needless to say the State Fair is a photographers play ground. Everywhere you look there are interesting people to photograph and exciting scenes unfolding. Kids on rides, people trying new foods, the Fair Park architecture around the stadium or the animals in the livestock exhibits. The creative eye will have a feast with the camera lens.

I hadn't been to the fair in about 4 years. I hope to make it again next year and shoot even more photos. In the past I'd taken my full camera/lens bag on my back. This year I limited myself to my camera and the Sigma 30mm f/1.4 lens id rented to try out. This turned out to be the perfect combination and all I needed for the day. Its low light abilities and "normal" field of view were perfect for walking around and shooting what caught my eye.

Overall a very fun day at the fair. We were exhausted by the time we got home!

My 100 Strangers Project slowly rolls onward. This past weekend I met Nife, a University of North Texas Engineering student from Morocco. I tend to be an opportunist when it comes to shooting my strangers. Some i have done cold walks up's to and explained my project. Others are people who have engaged me in conversation for some reason. While I have their attention, I use that as an ice breaker to grab their portrait. This was the case with Nife. He was introduced to me by another friend at the bar and I knew he'd be a great subject. He was very outgoing, friendly and very willing to help with my project.

We were all at the bar that night to watch a Burlesque show. Now, Id never been to one before but I knew what they were about. Nive didn't really know what to expect. I think he was a bit taken back at the amount of skin exposed that night. haha He also asked if it was normal for women in this town to dress as they were that night in the bar. What he meant by that was the 1950's era clothes they were all wearing. I explained to him, no... that's just kind of the theme of the night. He was amused. It was a fun night, everyone enjoyed.

Friday, October 08, 2010

Sometimes you find a photograph where you didn't expect one. This photo is a prime example of that. I recently went for a photo drive, which is where I get in my car and try my best to get lost out in the country. Hopefully to find interesting photos along the way. I had been driving for about 45 minutes not finding anything that peaked my interest. The sun was dropping fast and I knew I probably only had 25 minutes or so of good "magic hour" lighting left in the evening. As I drove I kept my 7D camera with 24-105mm lens attached, sitting in my lap. Id followed this dirt road for about 15 minutes and was about to turn around. Then, I crested a hill top and saw this scene infront of me. A pickup truck had just sped down the road ahead of me kicking up all that dust. I slammed on the breaks and thought "whoa", this is a shot! I was still parked on the top of the hill in my car as I snapped away. I took several shots as the dust cloud slowly drifted away like a morning fog. Everything seemed to just fall into place... the hill top, evening lighting, tree colors, dust. Everything to make my drive that evening worth while.